Stone & Incense Search
Start hereCurious, or no faithEvangelical, Pentecostal or ProtestantFrom another faithSomeone I love is CatholicBecoming CatholicI was Catholic once Today in the ChurchLibraryHard questionsVoices of the revivalTake the next stepAboutSources & methodSupport the site
The saints

St. Sixtus II and Companions

A peacemaking pope seized while preaching in the catacombs.

Feast: 7 August · died 258 · The early Church · Rome

Read the story 1 min read
Painting of Pope St. Sixtus II in a papal tiara and red cope, hand on his heart.

Sandro Botticelli, 1480. Wikimedia Commons, Public domain.

Home / The saints / St. Sixtus II and Companions

The catacomb of Callistus, 258

Sixtus was elected pope in 257, and a contemporary called him a good and peaceful priest.1

He restored friendly relations with the Churches of Africa and Asia after a bitter dispute.1

In August 258 the emperor Valerian ordered bishops, priests and deacons executed.

Patronage No official patronage we can cite yet. The Church remembers him as a pope martyred with his deacons; he is named in the Roman Canon.

01St. Sixtus II and Companions

In the catacombs

Sixtus was arrested while presiding at worship in a cemetery and was put to death with several of his deacons.1

St. Lawrence, his deacon, followed him a few days later.1

Live it this week

Be a peacemaker in a feud

Sixtus healed a split between churches. This week, help two people (or two groups) who have stopped talking: carry a kind word from one to the other.

Notes

How we know · 1 source for this page
  1. Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), “Pope St. Sixtus II”. New Advent edition. newadvent.org

The Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) is in the public domain; we quote the New Advent edition. Texts of the Holy See are quoted briefly from vatican.va. Scripture: World English Bible, Catholic edition (public domain); Verse numbers are modern, with Douay-Rheims numbers in brackets where they differ. Photographs: Wikimedia Commons, credited under each image; full list on the photo credits page.

Lines in the narrator’s voice, without a note, are our reflection, not a historical claim. Stone & Incense restates Church teaching in plain words; our wording is not an official Church text. Report an errorCorrections.